Stock Traders Buy High Volume of AT&T Call Options (NYSE:T)

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T - Get Free Report) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock investors purchased 237,072 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 219% compared to the typical volume of 74,379 call options.

AT&T Price Performance

Shares of AT&T stock traded down $0.18 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $28.11. The company had a trading volume of 34,228,798 shares, compared to its average volume of 38,458,824. AT&T has a 1-year low of $18.14 and a 1-year high of $29.19. The company has a market capitalization of $202.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.67 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a current ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $27.83 and a 200 day simple moving average of $26.23.

AT&T (NYSE:T - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 23rd. The technology company reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.52 by ($0.01). AT&T had a net margin of 9.64% and a return on equity of 13.63%. The business had revenue of $30.63 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $30.39 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.55 earnings per share. AT&T's revenue was up 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that AT&T will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be given a dividend of $0.2775 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.95%. AT&T's dividend payout ratio is 68.10%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AT&T

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in AT&T by 1.3% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 651,044,650 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $18,411,543,000 after buying an additional 8,185,006 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in AT&T by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 163,761,301 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $3,719,723,000 after buying an additional 2,640,644 shares during the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC grew its stake in AT&T by 17.7% in the 1st quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 113,957,259 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $3,222,711,000 after buying an additional 17,177,874 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in AT&T in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,858,418,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in AT&T by 16.3% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 78,148,354 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,779,438,000 after purchasing an additional 10,945,679 shares during the period. 57.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Scotiabank restated an "outperform" rating on shares of AT&T in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Citigroup reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of AT&T in a research report on Tuesday, June 17th. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of AT&T from $27.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Bank of America began coverage on shares of AT&T in a research report on Monday. They set a "buy" rating and a $32.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Tigress Financial upped their price objective on shares of AT&T from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $29.05.

AT&T Company Profile

AT&T, Inc is a holding company, which engages in the provision of telecommunications and technology services. It operates through the Communications and Latin America segments. The Communications segment offers wireless, wireline telecom, and broadband services to businesses and consumers located in the US and businesses globally.

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